Well, I have a better understanding of what separates anglers like myself from Pro Anglers now. I'm not saying I ever put us on the same level, just I see now that the GAP is A LOT WIDER than I thought.
I took Mark Pack out to do A "Day On the Water" at Lake Fork today...well I knew going in that he wasn't going to get 5 minutes of QUITE FISHING TIME, with me in the boat. I told him as soon as I got in the boat, I really didn't care about seeing him WHACK MONSTER fish today, I wanted for ME and the TFF'ers to learn as much as they could through this.
I started to feel BAD when the second cold front blew in and I had already BUGGED HIM all day till then and never gave him a minute to really fish. OH WELL, I got some good info for you all....LOL
I arrived at lake Fork Marina about 6:00 Am this morning and went over to Mosser's to have a cup of HOT COCO and wait for Pac Man.
He comes strolling in at 6:30, and to my surprise, has lost a TON of weight....Yeah really a TON. We sit down and he eats his new diet...3 Eggs, 2 Sausages, Sweat Tea.
We have to wait out the Thunderstorm that had hit the night before and was rolling out, now before Mark had got there, there were about 5 of Lake Forks really old timers in there laughing about us going fishing today. They said something about the Lightning spooking the fish and YADDA YADDA. I thought to my self sure guys.
It's already 7:20 before we get to head outside to rig up and load his boat with cold weather gear ( OH Mark thanks for making me take your rain suite, that's the last time I listen to the weather man). We get it all organized and let the owner of Mosser's put Mark in while I shoot video's.
First Let me walk you through the CRAZY WEATHER TODAY.
Launch: Calm, No Wind, Little Chill, Not Bad
8:30 Calm, No Wind, Sunny, NICE
9:45 RAIN, CLOUDY,Chill,No Wind, Not to bad
10:30 Windy, Sunny, Not To Bad
11:45 Windy, Chilly, Sunny, Cold
12:45 Cloudy, Windy, Cold
3:00 VERY WINDY, VERY COLD, VERY WET, VERY CLOUDY 3:33 COLD DRIZZLE, COLD WIND, COLD CLOUDS, COLD EVERYTHING ( Taken 3 minutes before Mark, Packs it in..get it Packs it in...LOL)
Here's wher it all began.
7:30 Mark launches his Ranger for the last time, well that Ranger. He had gotten a NEW one in and was dropping that one off to the new owner tomorrow.
He starts off using a Jig around the boat ramp telling me he didn't know Fork well enough to run it in fog...Yeah Right.
7:38 OK here is where I will have to write a story for you all, since this next move to a deep water spot was one of about 50 moves today. He had about 4 Bread and Butter spots with 10 more mixed in.
All the spots were deep Water Humps in 28-33 feet water or Deep Water Channels Bends that were next to flats.
This is where you guys are really going to hate me, I will sum up Mark's day here and show you what video's and pictures didn't get ruined by the wind and rain.
Now that being said, you will see a post under this one called "Tips From Mark" when I get home from Church tonight, I will have ALL the tips Mark told me about put there. I just want to get this out for all of you and to hold you over till I can get it typed up.
Mark and I saw ONE other boat on the lake that day and it was a Lake Fork Guide, he got on the water about 7:00 am and was loaded up by 12:00 PM, I will not mention who it was, but they said they only had 6 bites all day.
Mark had the Whole lake to fish, till Mother Nature threw a Wrench in his spokes.
Mark did have a tough day.....NOT LOCATING fish, just keeping them HOOKED UP, he got 10 bites all day not counting the Bar fish Catfish and 3 Bass. I know that 6 of those were WEIGHT BUSTERS, I mean some HOGS that he found out DEEP, he switched Hooks on his spoon after lunch but it was over by then. The second storm rolled in and the fish SCATTERED.
I did manage a few fish on video's and one more that " COUGH COUGH should have been lipped" a ton of Bar fish a Catfish, and some good tips. 6 video's Mark did on Jig Spoon tips were ruined and some on using your SI unit to help locate fish. I will translate everything on the next installment I will have up tonight.
Now to let you all know how he did.....DRUM ROLE......
NO ONE GUESSED THE BIG BASS OR TOTAL WEIGHT EXACTLY...LOL
From the other post "Mark has also made this interesting in the fact that he has giving me a $100 Lake Fork Tackle Gift Certificate to give out to who ever guesses the closest to his TOTAL WEIGHT.
He will also give away a $100 Lake Fork Tackle Gift Certificate to the first person who guess's what Lake Fork Tackle Lure he catches his BIGGEST fish on."
It was a tough day and Mark did do a GREAT JOB giving me some great info to spread to you guys, that will be in the next post.
Registered: 01/01/07
Posts: 4348
Loc: Your sister's house
hahaha this is funny. Im gonna check the old post to see what I win.
BTW awesome write up so far, you have a true talent with this stuff, this has been the most enjoyable part of my day, reading this day on the water stuff.
The weather cn really throe a wrench into your game plan! The good news is Mark was still able to locate and catch fish! And I'd bet most of us anglers would have thrown in the towel a whole lot sooner!!!!!
I would like to see a round 2, sucks to fish in that, you know it has to play on your mind to fish in that [censored]. I would have had to break out the old sour mash to get through that day. Casey, great job! I think Fish Fishburn needs to be worried about his job. You've got a great personality and a love for the sport. Keep it up!
Great report Casey... I really felt for you and Mark. I've had it go south on me like that before, it sux's. That took guts and coconuts to hang in there like y'all did. I like the way he worked that jig, I hate the drag and pause. Give us what you got brother, we'll be glad to get it... Don't get sick on us over that, it was flu looking weather out there.
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Politicians, baseball players, high-powered corporate CEO's they all seem to eventually let us down. Nature, however, does not. Look to her for inspiration and you will learn the secrets to living a good life. The most Important lesson it would seem is to make sure you spend as much time fishing as anything else.